Save the world, eat less meat

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Meat department manager Kevin Morlan arranges packages of pork at a local Dah'ls grocery store in Des Moines, Iowa, March 3, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charlie Neibergall

A newly published blueprint for doubling the global food supply includes a key suggestion about how everyone can contribute: eating less meat.

An international team of researchers has developed a plan to boost the world's food production while slashing the environmental impact of agriculture.

The study's Canadian co-author says the research is the first of its kind to quantify both food production and environmental consequences in the same analysis.

McGill University's Navin Ramankutty says limiting meat consumption is one of several ways to increase food production on a planet where one billion people don't have enough to eat.

He estimates that simply dedicating prime cropland to growing food for humans, rather than feed for animals, could spike the global output by nearly 50 per cent.

The research was published online today and will be featured on the cover page of the next edition of the journal Nature.